Good Little Boy

Total Black: $3,323.08
Total Red: $270,855.95

A discussion in the comments to Burning a Hole prompted today’s post.  I found valid but conflicting information on the internet and in those comments about how to handle credit card debt.  Even Suze Orman has modified her advice.  So I thought I’d take a moment and blog about it.

Supplemental Day of Accounting

Total Black: $85.38
Total Red: $243,602.66

Total Red is down from earlier this week—all-time high of $246K.  But it’s up from yesterday’s post: My First Car.  And all numbers are up from my Eleventh Day of Accounting, so I thought perhaps I’d update my numbers before the 10th of the month, especially because of the recent changes to my finances.  An abbreviated version follows below:

Absolutely Infuriating

Total Black: $85.38
Total Red: $246,889.20

I spent nearly two hours today on the telephone with Bank of America.  And I’m practically at my wits-end. 

Limits and Liens and Loans

Total Black: $906.89
Total Red: $241,059.05

Oh my!  Oh my!  Oh my!  I went looking for a jeep today.  Not sure how this will work out.

Round and Round

Total Black: $508.96
Total Red: $230,325.12

Both total black and total red are down a bit.  Total red should come down under $229K by tomorrow once payments post and all.  I worked from 8am until 11:30pm today at both jobs.  Since I’ve become head usher for Naked Boys Singing, every Friday and Saturday night will have me watching men singing in the nude—and all the people who pay to see them.  Quite the interesting end to the formal work week and start of the weekend.

Black and White and Red All Over

Total Black: $1,070.69
Total Red: $230,607.08

Total black is up because pay came through.  A portion has already been allocated to bills, however, so the numbers aren’t exactly accurate.  Total red is actually lower than what is shown.  It’s probably back down to $229K.  Of course, I say “back down” but really it’s back up.

Such a CARD!

Total Black: $90.46
Total Red: $229,121.20

Ah Congress.   That austere body.  The bequest to countless generations of the Founding Fathers.  And how we have squandered that bequest.  Today the CARD Act went into effect.  And what major changes does it enact?  What manna from congressional heaven will fall?  Not much really. 

Bark Bigger Than Bite

Total Black: $1,066.57
Total Red: $228,896.15

Well.  I finally did it.  I answered the call.  Picked up the telephone.  Twice actually.

More More More

Total Black: -$66.34
Total Red: $229,108.48

All day long a non-existent Lady Gaga tune has been going through my head.  An imaginary earworm, if you will.  In that husky voice of hers, she chants “More More More” and sings about all the people pulling at her.  Since this past weekend, I’ve felt the same.  It started with an email from my sister scolding me for not calling my mother.  Credit card companies won’t let up.  Even commenters are getting a bit demanding.  And now the temp job too.  Can you hear her?  More more more . . . .

Wise or Unwise

Total Black: $1,551.96
Total Red: $229,283.54

Whether wise or unwise, I’ve done it: as set out in Resolutions For the New Year, one credit card will be paid off by the end of January.  That leaves me with another to pay off by the end of February and then a student loan by March.  And I can’t wait!  As odd as it may sound, I actually can’t wait to pay bills now.

More Shenanigans

Total Black: $295.48
Total Red: $231,123.38

Pay came through last night.  In fact, I was still awake around 2 a.m. when it showed up in my account.  I had been slowly siphoning the money in my secondary checking account, money that I had parked there for the COBRA payment to the firm.  By yesterday afternoon the check still hadn’t been cashed, so I transferred the remaining money into my primary checking account to use it buy a few things, like lunch and some groceries.  So last night when I saw that my paycheck had been deposited and the check still hadn’t been cashed, I quickly transferred the $399.22 (covering two months) back into the other checking account to cover it, gave a sigh of relief, and then quietly drifted off to bed.  But of course, this afternoon the check showed up in my account as if it had posted on September 18th, even though I viewed my account at 2 a.m. the next day, September 19th, and the check wasn’t there.  This is the kind of shit I wrote about in What Is This, Sarcasm? that makes my blood boil.  I guess the new day I wrote about in A New Day Has Dawned has limits.  I borrowed the money I had allocated for that check knowing full well I might incur an insufficient funds fee.  And if it had presented a few days earlier, when the entire amount wasn’t in the account, I would have happily paid the $35 fee and been done with it because it would have been my fault.  I’m not proud to have to play these games, but skating this close to the financial edge requires running a few risks.  But it infuriates me when Bank of America rewrites history, when it moulds time to suit its purposes, and allows the check through just when enough money is in the account.  What’s the chance that the check presented conveniently a day before I transferred the exact amount into my account.  No, the check had not presented on September 18th.  And if the bank functions on Pacific time, then the money I transferred would have hit my account in time to cover it anyway.  Tomorrow I’m calling Bank of America and demanding back the $35 fee I paid today.

Strategies and Specifics

Total Black: $129.73
Total Red: $230,272.86

A number of people have asked me how I intend to get debt free in one year.  In the About Laid-Off Lawyer page I detailed the basics about this journey I’ve undertaken.  I’ve not yet mapped out the specifics in how I intend to accomplish this goal.  That’s mostly because I’m not clear on it myself.

Pussyfootin’ Around

Total Black: $625.15
Total Red: $230,649.18

In Never Been Further Apart I referenced the anxiety I feel when the telephone rings.  Since no one calls me on my home telephone number, it’s bound to be one of the debtors trying to get hold of me.  This morning both my cellphone and home phone rang at the exact same moment: 8:20 a.m.  The home phone was a credit card company; the cellphone was my mother calling to tell me that SallieMae was now calling her.  She’s a co-signor on one of my student loans.  And wonderful mother that she is, she made a payment on my student loans last month and asked SallieMae to send her the bills until I get back on my feet.  Only downside is that SallieMae will only apply her payments towards that loan she’s tied to.  Without the contract attorney position I’d continue to fall behind on those payments despite my mother’s help.

If You Find Yourself in a Hole

Total Black: $453.01
Total Red: $228,517.33

Just realized that total black never includes any cash in hand.  I suppose that’s ok since I rarely carry cash (even when I have money).  Another update: I interviewed today for an art sales position.  It’s a temporary gig tied to an exhibit here in Manhattan.  The hook: all the sellers have been displaced somehow by the Great Recession.  Check out the website: www.recessionartsale.com Great idea.  You’ll be sure to hear if I get selected.

Getting There From Here

Total Black: $527.71
Total Red: $228,464.16

Total black is up because unemployment check came through.  That cash infusion occurs every Wednesday, as long as I remember to register for it by the preceding Sunday.  PayPal money from eBay laptop sale was released, so I’ll have access to that soon.  Now to decide whether to pay the rent, the utility bill, the cell phone bill, the credit card bills, or the student loan bills.  Or buy food.  That’s running pretty low.

Slow Going

Total Black: $175.62
Total Red: $228,464.16

Had a brief but short-lived drop in total red this morning.  For the past few days, my bank’s software hasn’t been updating account information from SallieMae.  This morning I decided to get it working.  When I did, my total red dropped by roughly $4,000.  “Woo-hoo,” I thought!  “Progress!”  See, back in 2008, I used a portion of the firm’s severance package to pay off one of my smaller private loans—approximately $1,200.  I needed some feeling of accomplishment, so rather than splurge on needless goods, in a moment of clarity, I opted to pay off a debt.  (Starting this blog was a similar moment.  Sadly most of my life they’ve been rare.)  So earlier this morning I thought perhaps this whole time some software error hadn’t updated the bank’s number to reflect that loan as paid in full.  Alas, no such luck.  Turned out that only two of the three remaining private loans were showing.  So I deleted the account and re-added it.  That time it took.  Back at roughly $228K total debt.

Just Another Day

Total Black: $233.98
Total Red: $228,020.61

Racing against the clock again.  Not a good day today.  Not sure why either.  Just feeling down.  Drained.  Maybe I’ll discover my male “menstrual cycle” if I indicate down days in these blogs.  A pattern might emerge.  Updates on the money-raising front: the Quasi-Roommate might stop by tomorrow to check out the apartment and discuss the possible two-night arrangement I discussed in a previous entry.  No confirmation on that yet though.  I did get confirmation earlier today though for participating in a Wall Street Journal marketing survey group.  About a week ago I received a pretty random email inviting me to participate in a research focus group, and in return for two hours of time, participants get $200 in cash.  Umm…yeah…I said “sign me up.”  That’s a one-off source (at least for now—the marketing representative said they’d put me in the system for any additional groups I match).

Monthly payment to the IRS was due yesterday.  Don’t have the money or credit to make the payment.  The number of calls from credit card companies increased today.  Still working on those tasks for my colleague.  Difficulty with working for people you’re friendly with is broaching the subject of payment.  It was the last topic we discussed and we didn’t discuss when he would pay me. Getting really worried about this month’s finances.  Rent is $2,000 / month.  It’s a lot, but not for Manhattan.  Obviously the number above show that I can’t pay the rent yet.  But I still have until the 1st of the month.  Despite all that, I read somewhere that thinking positive takes effort.  It’s not something that just happens, but is, instead, a practice or mind-set.   So this blog (and your comments) helps keep that at the forefront of my thoughts.

A Day in the Life

Total Black: $33.16
Total Red: $227,972.40

We’re back.  And we’re live.  Well . . . at least in the internet sense.  Daily posts now show up in google searches.

When I was first laid-off in mid-October, I was in the middle of moving apartments.  That move took me long into November, partly because I inherited a very troubling and irksome problem with the new apartment that had to be dealt with immediately. A bit of background, and further to yesterday’s post, throughout much of 2008, a sense of foreboding slowly started rising within me.  We just were not busy at the firm.  And people started to “go missing” without explanation. One day while at the gym, at Silver Sneakers no less (an aerobics class for older people), my mother just happened to start chatting with another lady all about my job security concerns.  By random (or not?) chance, that lady had a daughter who worked at one of the local DA’s offices in the New York area.  Naturally, I was unbelievably irritated at my mother’s loose lips.  But she insisted that I had to meet this woman lest I make a fool of out of her. So around August 2008, I reached out to that contact.  Turned out, the daughter is an important person at the office and just happens to be the person who coordinates pro bono attorneys.